


Origins (of our souls)

by IAmANonnieMouse



Category: Shades of Magic - V. E. Schwab
Genre: A Gathering of Shadows, Childhood Friends, M/M, Pre-ADSOM, Pre-AGOS, Spoilers, Spoilers for AGOS, origins story, post-aGoS
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-05-26 05:09:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6225250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmANonnieMouse/pseuds/IAmANonnieMouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When he was introduced to the Prince standing in his courtyard, Rhy stretched out his hand with a friendly grin and a glint in his eye. Alucard matched the Prince, smile for smile, look for look, and he reveled in the familiarity of a daring soul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to take a moment to say that I did not see this Alucard/Rhy relationship coming, and I am SO GLAD that it did. My only disappointment (other than the very cruel cliffhanger in AGOS) is that they didn't have more scenes in the novel together. Speaking of the cliffhanger, Alucard is holding Rhy in his arms. In. His. Arms. And he will be doing that ceaselessly, until Ms. Schwab comes out with the next book. This is what sustains me.

Alucard was perched semi-precariously on the top of the wall surrounding his home, about to escape for another adventure, when the voices in the courtyard below made him hesitate. He glanced down and spotted a man and two young boys, roughly his age, one dressed in rich velvets, the other in black.

In an instant, Alucard had quickly turned around and slipped back into his room. He entered the courtyard moments later, no one the wiser.

When he was introduced to the Prince standing in his courtyard, Rhy stretched out his hand with a friendly grin and a glint in his eye. Alucard matched the Prince, smile for smile, look for look, and he reveled in the familiarity of a daring soul.

“Nice house,” the prince said.

“Do you want to see the rest?” Alucard asked, still clasping the Prince’s hand.

Rhy’s grin deepened and he leaned in closer, his chest brushing their joined hands. “What I want to see,” he whispered in Alucard’s ear, “is how you got down from that wall so quickly.”

Alucard jerked back in surprise and laughed.

“By all means,” he said, releasing the Prince’s hand and gesturing grandly, wordlessly inviting the Prince to precede him. Rhy stepped forward with a laugh, and Kell followed close behind, more loyal than a shadow.

~+~+~

As Alucard grew older, he started studying to harness magic. He worked late into the evenings, making first the air, then the water, then the earth shift and twirl.

He had tried for years to coax Kell out of his withdrawn silence, to no end. Alucard hoped that the Antari would, at the very least, be willing to discuss magic with him. He grinned as a droplet of water hovered over one hand, a chunk of earth over the other. Even if this didn’t manage to get Kell’s attention, Alucard was still a triad.

~+~+~

The three of them spent the daylight hours of Rhy’s sixteenth birthday feasting and socializing and smiling at the masses. They spent the evening hours sneaking out of bed, and Alucard and Kell put their magic to good use, making Rhy grin and clap and ask for more, more as they played catch with a water droplet or threw flames into the skies or moved Rhy with the air. (That last feat nearly made Alucard and Kell pass out from the strain, and they decided to call it a night afterwards, hobbling home like drunken sailors, as Rhy lectured them with a grin, asking, “What would Tiersen say?” and Kell giggled and snorted, drunk on exhaustion and freer – happier – than Alucard had ever seen him.)

~+~+~

The night of Alucard’s eighteenth birthday, Rhy climbed in Alucard’s window, as he had been doing ever since Alucard showed him how to sneak in and out of his house on that very first day. He crawled into bed next to Alucard and wrapped an arm around Alucard’s waist.

“What are you doing?” Alucard mumbled, turning slightly towards Rhy’s warmth.

“Cuddling.”

Alucard laughed. “Alright.”

When Alucard could feel sleep dragging him into peaceful quiet, Rhy shifted and sat up.

“Alucard?” he whispered.

“Mmpf?”

“I didn’t give you your present.”

Alucard blinked open his eyes and squinted at Rhy in the darkness. “What?”

Rhy shifted so that he was on all fours, leaning over Alucard, hands caging Alucard from where they rested on the bed. “I didn’t give you your present,” he repeated, leaning closer.

Alucard frowned slightly. “Yes, you did,” he said, thinking of the gorgeous dagger resting in its box under his bed.

“No,” Rhy breathed, leaning so close that his breath tickled Alucard’s lips. “I didn’t.” He bent down and softly kissed Alucard. With a sigh, Alucard parted his lips, raising his hands to rest on Rhy’s hips, to run down his back, to tangle in his hair.

When the sun was peaking over the horizon, Rhy shifted and said, “Alucard?”

“Yes?”

“We will always be together, right?”

Alucard tightened the arm wrapped around Rhy’s shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “As long as you’ll have me.”

Rhy hummed happily. “Forever, then.”

“Forever,” Alucard echoed.

~+~+~

On Rhy’s seventeenth birthday, Alucard watched Rhy watch a woman across the hall, through the throngs of dancing people.

“Go,” he said, gently nudging Rhy’s shoulder. “Charm her. Woo her. Bed her if you desire.”

Rhy glanced at Alucard, wide eyes clouded with either hurt or worry. “Why?” he whispered.

Alucard took a sip of his wine. “So you know how it is.”

“How what is?”

“Being with a woman.”

Alucard watched Rhy cross the room, saw the woman’s eyes widen at the sight of the approaching prince. He stared, fixated, as a large, flirtatious smile spread across Rhy’s face. Then, he turned, placed his empty glass on a nearby table, and left. There would be no one else worth talking to tonight, now that Rhy was occupied.

On his way out, Kell appeared out of nowhere, snagged his arm, and pulled him into an alcove.

“What’s wrong?” the Antari asked, brow creased slightly.

Alucard smiled, accustomed to Kell’s sudden appearances. “Nothing. I’m just heading home.”

Kell’s frown deepened. “What did Rhy do?”

Alucard faltered for a moment, panicking. He and Rhy had agreed that what they did together was their own business, and no one else’s. He feared Kell had uncovered their secret, but then he realized that Kell just naturally assumed that Rhy was at fault for most of his friends’ woes.

“Nothing,” Alucard said, smile firmly in place. “I’m tired, that’s all.”

Kell blinked, eyes traveling over Alucard calculatingly. Rhy had once told Alucard that Kell didn’t know what to make of him, unsure of how to interpret Alucard’s smiles and dry humor. Watching Kell, Alucard could almost see the Antari’s mind working furiously.

He reached out and placed a hand on Kell’s shoulder. “It’s nothing,” he said softly. “Really. Don’t worry about me. Go enjoy the party.”

Kell laughed humorlessly. “You mean go let everyone stare at me? The pet magician of the King and Queen?”

Alucard hesitated. “You don’t really mean that.”

Kell shrugged. “I wonder, sometimes.”

Alucard sighed and patted Kell’s shoulder for good measure. “They love you,” he said, walking away. “Rhy couldn’t live without you.”

A whisper of a grin stretched across Kell’s face, then faded. “Goodnight, Alucard.”

“Goodnight, Kell.”

~+~+~

Hours later, he heard Rhy outside his window, but he didn't move, even as Rhy slipped inside and crossed the darkened room, easily sidestepping the chair, the table, and Alucard’s discarded clothes on the floor. Rhy quietly undressed and slid under the covers, stretching out alongside Alucard and burying his face against Alucard’s chest. One of his hands sat lightly on Alucard’s stomach.

“Alucard?” Rhy whispered, his lips brushing against Alucard’s skin. 

“Did you charm her?” Alucard asked, instead of answering Rhy’s silent question.

“Yes.”

“Woo her?”

“Yes.”

“Touch her?”

A slight pause. “Yes.”

“Kiss her?”

A longer hesitation. “Yes.”

Alucard took a breath. “Bed her?”

Rhy inhaled sharply and squirmed, wiggling until he was completely pressed against Alucard. “Yes,” he breathed.

Alucard closed his eyes.

“Alucard?” Rhy asked again. The hand resting on Alucard’s stomach shifted slightly.

“Yes?”

There was a long silence, so long that Alucard wondered if Rhy had fallen asleep. Then, in a sudden surge of motion, Rhy reared up and repositioned himself, sitting astride Alucard’s hips. He bent down slowly and brushed his lips against Alucard's, trembling. “Show me how it is,” he whispered.

Alucard swallowed. “How what is?”

Rhy kissed the edge of Alucard’s ear. “Being with a man,” he said. He bit down, laughing huskily at Alucard's sharp inhalation, then trailed kisses along Alucard’s cheek, throat, jaw. “Will you?” he asked, his whisper a roar in Alucard’s ears. “Show me?”

He straightened, and, instinctively, Alucard's hands flew to his waist to steady him. The moon shone on Rhy’s wide grin, and Alucard couldn't help but return it. He raised one hand and rested it on the side of Rhy’s face. Rhy hummed and nuzzled it, pressing kisses against Alucard’s palm.

Desire slammed into Alucard in a sudden wave, and he dragged Rhy down for a kiss. He growled as he tasted the faint tang of perfume and rolled, pressing Rhy against the mattress, running his hands along every sliver of skin he could reach. Rhy wrapped his arms and legs around Alucard, holding him close. Their hips pressed against each other, and Alucard wanted to shift, to move, to breathe, but he couldn't bear to separate their lips.

He raised his hands to frame Rhy’s face and angled his head, deepening the kiss. Every fragment of his soul was screaming, _Rhy, Rhy, Rhy._

“Mine,” he growled in the infinitesimal space between their lips. “Mine.”

“Yours,” Rhy gasped. “Alucard.”

_Rhy._

~+~+~

They were inseparable after that. They spent so much time as Alucard-and-Rhy, as Rhy-and-Alucard, that they sometimes – most times – forgot about the world around them. A few months after Rhy’s birthday, Alucard realized that they had, over the weeks, excluded Kell from their adventures. He felt a vague sense of guilt, but then Rhy arrived, grinning wildly, and Alucard couldn’t be bothered to worry about anything when his prince was with him.

Then one afternoon, Kell walked in on them in Rhy’s room. The next hour was filled with hasty explanations, frowns, attempted apologies, shouting, and, finally, a promise from Kell that he wouldn’t tell the King and Queen.

If Kell avoided Alucard more and glared more often than he spoke, Alucard couldn't bring himself to worry. He and Rhy were going to be together forever so Kell would just have to get used to his presence.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alucard was leaving Rhy’s room one evening when he overheard the King and Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To anyone still interested in this fic, so sorry for the long absence. A combination of writer's block and Real Life prevented me from updating sooner. Hope you enjoy!

Alucard was leaving Rhy’s room one evening when he overheard the King and Queen.

“It would be an advantage, politically speaking…”

“...and she is said to be beautiful…”

“...but how will he take it? No, not him...Alucard...”

“...Rhy will be alright...duty to his people…”

“...but they are very close…”

“...discussion with…”

“...it is settled, then…”

And Alucard understood. Rhy was going to marry a girl from a neighboring realm. Alucard would be cast aside in the name of the greater good of the people. He could almost picture Rhy’s face, sculpted into a perfect parody of disappointment, as he told Alucard that they hadn’t had anything special anyway.

He started to turn back to Rhy’s rooms, then stopped. He couldn’t face the prince now, not like this. So he turned and left, nearly running back home.

~+~+~

He purposefully missed his planned rendezvous with Rhy the next day. And the day after that. _He promised me,_ Alucard wanted to say, scream. But he hadn’t. They had never promised each other anything.

~+~+~

Alucard finally worked up the nerve to visit Rhy a few days later. He walked into the prince’s rooms, prepared to have an adult conversation with him, and was startled by a sudden armful of Rhy, trembling and clutching him closely, and completely lost all of his nerve as he heard Rhy whisper that he had been so worried, that he thought Alucard had been hurt, that he had missed Alucard.

Alucard rested a hand on the back of Rhy’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss, swallowing the frantic, endless stream of words pouring out of Rhy’s mouth. And Rhy kissed him back, and everything was perfect.

~+~+~

That night, while the moon shone through Rhy’s opened balcony doors, Alucard came back to reality and dressed, quietly, in the semidarkness. He dug through his pockets and pulled out the soft, delicate feather he had found on his way over. After a moment’s pause, he placed it on Rhy’s nightstand, took one last look at Rhy’s face, silently whispered goodbye, and left, scaling the now-familiar castle walls.

~+~+~

He arrived at the port just as a ship was leaving, and Alucard convinced the captain to take him on as a cabin boy. The sun rose as _Sweet Regret_ sailed away, lighting on the tips of the castle. Alucard spotted Rhy’s balcony, imagined he saw a silhouette standing, watching. Then, he blinked, and it was gone.

~+~+~

Alucard worked his way up the ranks, became first mate after months of work. The entire time, he waited to hear the news of the prince’s wedding—and ignored the crew’s whispers that he had a secret lover waiting for him back home, because they had never seen him so much as flirt with someone.

It took him nearly a year to realize he had been a complete and utter fool.

~+~+~

Things got slightly out of hand after that. Alucard stopped being as careful as he should have been, started wishing that he would get caught, get arrested, just so he would have a reason to return to the castle, to Rhy.

He got his wish a few weeks later, and the crew were all dragged on board a new ship, chained, burned, scarred. And Alucard could hear the other crew members muttering about escape plans and cursing at the guards and groaning in pain and crying out at the heat around their wrists, but all Alucard could think was, _Rhy, Rhy, Rhy, Rhy._

~+~+~

He was brought in front of the king and queen alone, separated from the rest of the crew. He listened carefully as they talked about “options” and acted like they had never seen him before. Alucard couldn’t help but hope that someone else was behind this escape route.

He listened and, when they were finished, spoke clearly, decision made before they could even ask.

~+~+~

That night, he made another reckless decision—he might as well get used to his new occupation—and slipped back inside the castle, climbing onto the ever-familiar balcony.

“Fancy seeing you here,” a voice said from inside.

Alucard straightened and slowly entered, eyes falling on the figure lounging in an unfamiliar chair, a feline with a white fluffy tail resting in his lap.

It was Rhy, but not. He had the same eyes, same gorgeous poise, but there was a coldness behind his face, a tautness to the practiced sprawl of his limbs. He’d grown up.

“Rhy,” Alucard said.

“Alucard.”

Alucard stepped further into the room. The cat’s tail twitched.

“Where have you been?” Rhy asked.

“Have you not heard?”

“I heard that a once-respected noble was dragged in with a ragtag bunch of pirates, caught for robbing the King’s ships in broad daylight.” Rhy tilted his head in an unfamiliar gesture, one that made him seem both vulnerable and regal. “I thought I would give you a chance to explain further.”

Alucard swallowed. “I left.”

“Yes, I am well aware of that.”

“Your parents wanted you to marry a princess, and I—”

“I don’t care about that, Alucard. Where did you go?”

“To sea. To explore the world.”

“And steal from it?” Rhy arched a brow, and Alucard _ached_ with how un-Rhy Rhy was acting.

“Yes.”

“And now you are a legal pirate.”

“Privateer.”

“Are you happy?”

Alucard stared into Rhy’s deep eyes. “That depends.”

“On what?”

In a surge, Alucard stepped forward and bent down, pressing his lips to Rhy’s. He heard Rhy inhale sharply, and then a hand was cupping the side of Alucard’s face, blessedly familiar, and Rhy was kissing him back, and he parted his lips, and everything was so beautiful and gentle and _right._

“On that,” Alucard breathed, when he parted their lips for air.

Rhy blinked. “I ought to know better,” he whispered, smirking slightly. He reached out and pulled Alucard down for another kiss.

At some point, the fluffy cat in Rhy’s lap was moved somewhere else. At some point, Alucard removed his shirt—and Rhy’s. At some point, everything was exactly as it was supposed to be. At some point, Alucard knew he was home.

“Rhy,” he gasped.

“Yours,” Rhy answered, his breath fanning across Alucard’s lips. “Always. Yours.”

~+~+~

“So you’ll be at sea for long periods of time.”

“Yes.”

“And you’ll be lonely without me.”

“Rhy.”

“I want you to take Esa with you when you leave.”

_“Rhy.”_

“I don’t think cats get seasick, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Rhy.”

“I want you to remember me.”

“As if I could ever forget.”

~+~+~

That night, Alucard woke, arms curled around Rhy. He kissed Rhy’s temple, smiled softly as the prince stirred but did not wake, so trusting even in sleep.

He dressed in the semidarkness, remembering a similar night from not too long ago. This time, instead of a feather, he left a note and placed it on the sheets in front of Rhy’s face.

_Until we meet again, my love._

It was slightly challenging, climbing down a wall with a cat perched on one of his arms, but Esa had taken a liking to him and sat complacently while Alucard figured out what he was doing, and they both made it to the ground safely.

~+~+~

He got his own ship and crew, loaded the ship in the early dawn, and sailed away.

This time, as he watched the light touch the spires of the castle, he knew that it was Rhy standing on his balcony, hand raised in the air in a silent farewell.

~+~+~

Two years later, his crew encountered the enigma of Delilah Bard, and the _Night Spire_ gained a thief. 


End file.
